I suspect Grab is not allowed to capture DVD Player output, since Apple wants to discourage piracy. You'll need to use a third-party application to do this.

Click to expand...

Yes, that makes sense, of course.

I didn't want to copy the whole movie. I just liked one picture, and I wanted to put it on my desktop. Do you think I might be able to do that if I have a third party scrapbook utility on at the same time as the DVD player? Do you know if it is possible to have any other program active when the DVD player is also being used? Any suggestions as to a good third party utility?

I was not able to get 'grab' to capture the DVD window. I think Apple crippled the software to satisfy the MPAA or something. Or maybe it is just a bug.

I figured out a way to do it though with the standard 10.3 software.

You can use the command line tool "screencapture" in a particular mode. screencapture lets you capture the whole screen, the contents of a window by selecting the window, or a region of the screen by drawing a box with the mouse over the region you want. I found that if a captured a region of the screen that just happened to contain the DVD window then the capture would succeed. If I just tried to capture the DVD window using screencapture's window selection mode it would NOT work. I don't remember if I tried the "whole screen" method screencapture can do.

Here are some instructions from memory/web (not near a mac to verify this works):

1. start Terminal (I think this is in Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
2. type into the terminal window (without quotes, and substitute whatever name you want the output file to be for "desired-filename") "screencapture -i -s ~/desired-filename.pdf"
3. Using the mouse and a click/drag to make the box appear select a region of the screen that includes the DVD window, but that also includes some junk around it.

Once you do this you should have in your home directory a PDF file named desired-filename.pdf (or whatever name you chose) which is the capture of the DVD screen you want plus the extra junk around it. You can edit the image somehow to get rid of the other junk if you want.

That worked for me as far as I remember.

It might be more convenient to capture it to the clipboard though instead of a file. Supposedly this can be done with the following command, althogh I've not tried it and again I'm not near a Mac right now:

Do you know if it is possible to have any other program active when the DVD player is also being used?

Click to expand...

In my other reply I was assuming you were not running the DVD player in full-screen more. There is an easy way to not run it in full-screen mode. You just start the disc as normal and then you press the right buttons and it will play the movie from a normal window rather than in full-screen mode. This is a long shot but I think if you press command-2 (button with apple on it and number 2 at the same time) it will put the DVD player into a normal window mode where you can see all your other windows. If I'm wrong I'm wrong about the keypress I'm sure someone sitting at a Mac can tell you the right keypress.

If you open up Apple Script Editor, copy and paste the following script, compile it and save it as an Application with the run only box checked, you'll have created your own mini 'grab' application to keep in your dock...

do shell script "screencapture -i -s ~/Desktop/screen_capture.pdf"

jx

eta: and you can use '-c' in place of '~/screen_capture.pdf' (my quotes) to capture to the clipboard...

I needed this feature cause I was doing a film studies course and needed screen shots from films to go in the essay. It is REALLY easy. Go to www.macupdate.com, run a search for a piece of free software called 'DVD Capture'. Download it, follow the instructions. Now you can take screenshots of DVDs! Works like a charm, free, no fuss.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.